please help to design a table

[oas]

Hi to all,
i want to store many text file in a table. my table design is like the following:



id filename
a a.txt
b b.txt
and my all files are stored in a folder. now i want to soter the path of the file name (for example:c:\myfile\a.txt) in filename field and later i want to query the file by id field and want to display the content of the file.
i would appreciate if anyone can please help me.


regards,

[NassauBob]

So, you do not want to store the actual file(s) in the database, just links to them?

You can do this by setting the data type to OLE Object from table design view, and from datasheet view, right click the field into which you want to insert a link, and click Insert Object.... Select the Create from File option, and make sure you check the Insert Link checkbox, or you will import the whole file instead of a link.

As far as displaying the file contents from a query, uhhhh....shrug

[zephyr13684]

I'm very new to Access and am taking a class where I have to create a database. Can you tell me how you decide how many tables to create and how to separate the information between the tables?

[NassauBob]

Well, a table should be as close to a true representation as possible. For example, if you were storing data on employees, you would include such attributes as last name, first name, perhaps middle initial, date of birth, gender, if that was needed, etc. A special field called a primary key -> which you will learn about if you are taking a database class <- will ensure that each record in the table is unique.

Now, if you were going to include family members of the employees, those should be listed under a separate table, but linked to the appropriate employee by use of a foreign key -> which you will also learn about if you are taking a database class.

Hope this helps,